MTN, tiGO punished for poor service

The National Communications Authority (NCA) has turned the heat on mobile phone operators for poor quality service.

Last August, the regulator had cause to sanction MTN for service disruptions within some parts of Accra.

The sanctions were in the form of a compensation package to affected subscribers, totalling over GH¢2 million.

MTN was directed to give each affected subscriber a compensation package of eight minutes free airtime.

Thus, the total value of compensation to subscribers cost the mobile network about GH¢1.8 million, using the on-net charge of GH¢0.09 per minute.

MTN has, in accordance, begun implementing the compensation package to the affected subscribers in batches to avoid congestion on the network.

Some consumers the Daily Graphic spoke to acknowledged receipt of the text messages informing them of a ‘goodwill gesture’.

Consumers who were originally given six minutes worth of compensation are to be given an additional two minutes as directed by the regulator.

In addition to this, the network was taken to task for failing to submit the compensation package within the time directed.

In another development, tiGO, has also been directed to compensate consumers within the Old Ningo area for service degradation from August 27 to September 2, 2013.

The details of the compensation package which the Daily Graphic unearthed showed that the NCA approved a compensation proposal from the network for consumers to make free calls for twenty-four (24) hours within the Old Ningo area.

According to a tiGO source, a hardware alarm sounded on the Transceiver Unit of NINGO 1800MHz site on the August 27, resulting in a decline of services within the Old Ningo area.

This made consumers within the affected area experience significant call drops and poor connection.

The Daily Graphic learnt that the compensation had been implemented.

The paper has been following with keen interest service delivery in Ghana, including water, electricity and banking services.

Consumers who spoke to the Daily Graphic on the measures taken by the NCA advocated that the other regulators could adopt similar strategies to counteract the trend of poor service delivery.